A ribbon cutting ceremony took place at the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri on Tuesday to celebrate the opening of their new isolation care unit. The new building functions as a quarantined space for sick animals undergoing treatment, while keeping healthy animals at the main shelter protected from incoming disease.

Charlotte Craig, Board President at the Humane Society, says since they don’t know what strays have been exposed to before they come into their care, they now can prepare for the instance of a serious illness.

“Sometimes it’s parvo, sometimes it’s other diseases that kill. Most the time it’s not, but it’s diseases that can be prevented if you can get them out of the general population,” said Craig. “So this will save lives. This will literally save lives.”

The $30,000 project was funded by the Purina Foundation, and has been under the construction of Southeast Missouri State University engineering students for about three months.